July 25, 2025
Published by 
Luke Potter on July 25, 2025
Luke Potter on July 25, 2025Funeral service owners wear many hats—counselor, manager, operations lead—but one of the most important roles is strategist. Whether you’re five or fifteen years away from retirement, you need to think ahead. The most successful owners plan years in advance, staying ahead of trends, preparing their staff, and organizing their business so that when it’s time to step away, the transition feels like a natural next step—not a fire drill. Long-term thinking creates flexibility and options, whether you’re training a family successor or preparing for a sale. Technology is one of the easiest ways to future-proof your funeral home. Case management systems, digital arrangement tools, and customer relationship platforms are no longer nice-to-haves—they’re the foundation for efficiency. They streamline the front office, reduce errors, and create better visibility into how your business operates. They also make your firm more attractive to […]
July 25, 2025
Published by 
Nicole Vullo on July 25, 2025
Nicole Vullo on July 25, 2025It’s Not a Simple Cremation…Tips on educating client families for better results in the funeral home
Written By Jen Graziano, Attorney, Licensed Funeral Director NY/CT Coxe & Graziano Funeral Home If funeral directors were surveyed and asked how many times they’ve heard a family call say, “I’m just looking for a simple cremation” the numbers would be astounding. These calls seem to come with far more frequency these days. Funeral directors often find themselves in a tug of war, fighting to keep the family yet also fighting to protect their bottom line. To all those who have longed looked with envy upon our industry for its inherent “recession proof” nature, rest assured, we are fighting for our life every day in the battle against a new consumer, a consumer with no regard for the sacred nature of our work. While volume may rise each year for a funeral home, revenue margins per case are noticeably shrinking […]
July 25, 2025
Published by 
Nicole Vullo on July 25, 2025
Nicole Vullo on July 25, 2025How to Stop Fighting the Algorithm and Start Winning the Modern Funeral Consumer Let me paint a picture. It’s 2007. You’ve got your first smartphone, your ringtone is probably “Low” by Flo Rida, and your marketing strategy? A yellow pages ad, maybe a billboard, and—if you were really ahead of the curve—a website that looked like it was designed by your nephew in high school. Fast forward to today. AI is writing love poems, algorithms decide who sees what before they’ve even thought about needing it, and TikTok influencers are selling everything from shampoo to caskets (seriously). So, let me ask you this: has your marketing plan kept up with the times… or is it still buffering? If your strategy could use a reboot, don’t worry. It’s not too late to Ctrl + Alt + Del your old plan and […]
July 25, 2025
Published by 
Chris Cruger on July 25, 2025
Chris Cruger on July 25, 2025Funeral and cemetery professionals are natural caregivers. They serve grieving families with empathy, walk alongside them during life’s hard moments, and ensure that every detail of every service is handled with care. But in the process of supporting others, those same caregivers can neglect their own needs and those of their firm. There’s a lot of talk about self-care these days – and for good reason. Burnout and compassion fatigue are real risks in funeral service. But self-care isn’t just about bubble baths and meditation. It’s also about financial clarity, operational stability and long-term peace of mind. In short, it’s about taking care of your funeral home, too. One of the most powerful means of professional self-care is something many funeral directors only associate with selling their firm: a business valuation. This article reframes that misconception and demonstrates that a […]
June 23, 2025
Published by 
Axel Jean-Francois on June 23, 2025
Axel Jean-Francois on June 23, 2025Six Proven Plays to Lift Funeral-Home Margins — Without Losing Your Soul “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” — John Wooden Running a funeral home today is like steering a tugboat through fog while speedboats zip past. You can’t keep jacking up prices, and you definitely can’t cut corners on care—families remember both. What you can do is run smarter. The six plays below come from live field data (and a few hard-earned scars). Margins may be math, but leadership is still about people. PLAY 1 — Master the Fundamentals “Excellence is achieved by the mastery of the fundamentals.” — Vince Lombardi Why the Middle Wins Offer three crystal-clear packages—Good, Better, Best. Behavioral economists call it the Goldilocks effect; we call it a license to boost average ticket. 51 % of families in our 2025 study chose the mid-tier […]